Post by sclcookie on Jun 5, 2006 0:18:59 GMT -5
Lawyers in last effort to save 'insane' killer from death row
Percy Walton's attorneys describe their client as a man who has lost all
touch with reality: He keeps no personal effects in his death row cell,
save for a mountain of salt and pepper packets. He rarely speaks, although
occasionally bursts into random bouts of laughter. The guards call him
"Horse" - short for "Crazy Horse" - and complain of his unbearable stench.
When asked what he believes will happen to him if he is executed, the
triple killer's response, his attorneys say, was that he would go to
Burger King.
Whether Walton - who is scheduled to die by injection on 8 June - is
indeed insane and mentally retarded has been debated for nearly a decade.
Some believe he is faking his behaviour to get off death row. Others argue
he does not meet the legal definition of insanity or retardation.
The issue - one that has sparked frenzied debate - is before the US
Supreme Court, which has just days to decide whether to take the case and
determine if Walton should be executed for the 1996 slayings of 3
neighbours in Danville, Virginia.
Walton, 27, pleaded guilty in 1997 to the murders of Jessie and Elizabeth
Kendrick, a couple in their 80s, and Archie Moore, 33. The victims were
robbed and shot in the head; Moore's body was found in a cupboard, his
corpse doused in cologne.
"The police told me later that Daddy was face down on the carpet in the
living room with his hands above his head, as if in prayer," the
Kendricks' daughter, Barbara Case, said. "Mother was in the dining area
... she had begged him not to kill her."
The Supreme Court has ruled it unconstitutional to execute the insane and
mentally retarded, but left it up to individual states to define
retardation. Walton's attorneys argue that Walton is schizophrenic and
incapable of understanding the concept of death, and so isineligible for
execution. They have also filed a clemency request with Virginia's
Governor, Timothy Kaine.
(source: The Independent (UK)
Percy Walton's attorneys describe their client as a man who has lost all
touch with reality: He keeps no personal effects in his death row cell,
save for a mountain of salt and pepper packets. He rarely speaks, although
occasionally bursts into random bouts of laughter. The guards call him
"Horse" - short for "Crazy Horse" - and complain of his unbearable stench.
When asked what he believes will happen to him if he is executed, the
triple killer's response, his attorneys say, was that he would go to
Burger King.
Whether Walton - who is scheduled to die by injection on 8 June - is
indeed insane and mentally retarded has been debated for nearly a decade.
Some believe he is faking his behaviour to get off death row. Others argue
he does not meet the legal definition of insanity or retardation.
The issue - one that has sparked frenzied debate - is before the US
Supreme Court, which has just days to decide whether to take the case and
determine if Walton should be executed for the 1996 slayings of 3
neighbours in Danville, Virginia.
Walton, 27, pleaded guilty in 1997 to the murders of Jessie and Elizabeth
Kendrick, a couple in their 80s, and Archie Moore, 33. The victims were
robbed and shot in the head; Moore's body was found in a cupboard, his
corpse doused in cologne.
"The police told me later that Daddy was face down on the carpet in the
living room with his hands above his head, as if in prayer," the
Kendricks' daughter, Barbara Case, said. "Mother was in the dining area
... she had begged him not to kill her."
The Supreme Court has ruled it unconstitutional to execute the insane and
mentally retarded, but left it up to individual states to define
retardation. Walton's attorneys argue that Walton is schizophrenic and
incapable of understanding the concept of death, and so isineligible for
execution. They have also filed a clemency request with Virginia's
Governor, Timothy Kaine.
(source: The Independent (UK)